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Daft Punk bass sound

B

batmilk

Guest
Sep 9, 2012
46
0
Sydney, Australia
#1
Hello friends

So I've been listening to the occasional dance/house track lately, Daft Punk's "Get Lucky" being one of them, and classic 90s stuff also

Can anyone tell me how to achieve such a punchy, warm sound as in these two videos? I really would love to reproduce this, it sounds so awesome. It sounds as though it's highly compressed? I have a Warwick MIK 5-string Corvette and a American Std Jazz, as well as a multi-effects pedal which I love to play around with, and a Hartke LH500 amp and XL400 cabinet... anyone got any ideas? Vids below

 
#4
Get Lucky sounds like an active jazz bass style 5-string to me - both pickups on, plucking kind of near the bridge pickup.

Compression too - medium fast attack.

I'm less sure about the kind of bass on the Madison Avenue track, similar compression to the Daft Punk though.

To my ears, most of the awesomeness in the bass in this track comes from the bass players feel, lazy and pushy at different moments. Its also sampled/looped rather than played throughout the whole track

Hope that helps :)
 
#5
sir juice said:
Get Lucky sounds like an active jazz bass style 5-string to me - both pickups on, plucking kind of near the bridge pickup.

Compression too - medium fast attack.

I'm less sure about the kind of bass on the Madison Avenue track, similar compression to the Daft Punk though.

To my ears, most of the awesomeness in the bass in this track comes from the bass players feel, lazy and pushy at different moments. Its also sampled/looped rather than played throughout the whole track

Hope that helps :)
Click to expand...

Thanks, I definitely think you're onto something
 
#7
Guys you have to understand daft punk uses a lot of filtering on their tracks, and without that filtered sound you will never nail the bass tones.

A good example of an awesome player in that genre is Fred Falke. I believe he uses an active Jazz bass, so that aspect is correct.

But if you want to nail the tone, you need to have the filter they use - The Mutator.

Here is the virtual version - Invalid Link Removed
 
#8
Also for that deep bass pump it's an electronic thing (using a compressor in a side chain via software). I had it explained in depth in a Cubase class and it was quite interesting. They did it first. Quite cool. Hope you can cop that tone. It is nice indeed.
 
#9
Two great tracks. According to Wikipedia, Get Lucky is Nathan East on bass, so it might be one of his Yamahas:

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed])

Don't Call Me Baby uses a sample from an italian guy called Pino D'Angio. Sounds like a Musicman Stingray with the treble down to me:

Invalid Link Removed

Agreed, compression is a big part of the sound on both these tracks.
 
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#13
sir juice said:
Get Lucky sounds like an active jazz bass style 5-string to me - both pickups on, plucking kind of near the bridge pickup.

Compression too - medium fast attack.

I'm less sure about the kind of bass on the Madison Avenue track, similar compression to the Daft Punk though.

To my ears, most of the awesomeness in the bass in this track comes from the bass players feel, lazy and pushy at different moments. Its also sampled/looped rather than played throughout the whole track
Click to expand...

Big +1 especially to the bolded portion. And I do believe that Nathan East played on this track. Here's a nice bass version that cops an appropriate tone.

 
#14
This sounds pretty much like a PBass, or musicman, with nice old flats, into the desk through a beefy preamp. That said, the majority of this sound is in the fingers. Bernie Edwards had it, among many others.
 
#15
Duuuuuuuuuude said:
Sounds to me like Daft Punk was trying to get the same tone, etc that Bernard Edwards got on Chic tunes like Freak Out and Good Times. I think he used a BC Rich and a Stingray back then
Click to expand...

Pretty much exactly what they were going for. I watched some promo vids where they talk to Pharrell about how he got involved with the robots. They love old funk.

This sound should be do able with your Jazz and a lot of compression. I wouldn't think you could get that out of your Wick but it wouldn't be the first time I was wrong.
 
#16
AngelCrusher said:
Guys you have to understand daft punk uses a lot of filtering on their tracks, and without that filtered sound you will never nail the bass tones.

A good example of an awesome player in that genre is Fred Falke. I believe he uses an active Jazz bass, so that aspect is correct.

But if you want to nail the tone, you need to have the filter they use - The Mutator.

Here is the virtual version - Invalid Link Removed
Click to expand...

It seems to me there is a subtle filter, at least it sounded that way the first time I heard the track.

Are there analog analogs to this digital mutine filter? Was it based on a particular analog filter?
 
#17
batmilk said:
Hello friends

So I've been listening to the occasional dance/house track lately, Daft Punk's "Get Lucky" being one of them, and classic 90s stuff also

Can anyone tell me how to achieve such a punchy, warm sound as in these two videos? I really would love to reproduce this, it sounds so awesome. It sounds as though it's highly compressed? I have a Warwick MIK 5-string Corvette and a American Std Jazz, as well as a multi-effects pedal which I love to play around with, and a Hartke LH500 amp and XL400 cabinet... anyone got any ideas? Vids below

Click to expand...
 
#20
HolmeBass said:
It seems to me there is a subtle filter, at least it sounded that way the first time I heard the track.

Are there analog analogs to this digital mutine filter? Was it based on a particular analog filter?
Click to expand...

They filter everything. Its stronger on prior releases.

If you just want to play the song live, then it is not a big deal.
If you want to make disco/house in the French style (live bass) it definitely makes a difference.

Yes he filter is called the Mutator. It will not be easy to find one that works well.
 
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